You Already Have APST Evidence, You Just Haven't Written It Down

You don't need extra evidence for the APST, you need to notice what you're already doing. Here's how one small classroom routine covers 14 standards, and can help you land your next contract.

Hayley Laney- Teaching Futures

7/16/20264 min read

woman in black scoop neck shirt holding white printer paper
woman in black scoop neck shirt holding white printer paper

It's term 3… Have I done enough to get a contract next year?

The nerves start pretty early when you are a precariously employed Early Career Teacher. You walk into term, think "Oh, I feel like I know what I'm in for this term" and suddenly the staff room discussions turn to what year level are you teaching next year, or "we can't run this subject as who will teach it?". You shrink backwards into the corner, you haven't even finished this year yet, I already have to be worried about employment for next year, "have I left it too late?, Have I done enough to be offered another contract?", or "how can I apply to other schools? I can't stack up to other teachers with way more experience than I have!"

So off you head to your classes, still learning about how they learn, how to motivate them and how to get through the subject content, with this nagging thud in the back of your head, Can I do this? What more do I need to prove that I'm deserving of employment. Let's face it, you feel like you're begging for your supper.

It's a pretty sticky place to be in, and one that is generated by the system and not by the people working in it. Most Early career teachers fall outside the system guidelines of receiving formal mentoring, or have started midway through, so were never formally allocated a mentor. And why is mentoring important? Well proper mentoring should help you articulate your practice, to identify the strengths in your teaching and support you to close the gaps. And this is exactly what proficiency in teaching looks like, it's your teaching story and this can be used to support your applications and to verify your proficiency. It's a vital component of developing quality teaching.

You are suddenly thrown back to your Professional Development plan from last term, where from one observation the observer (most likely someone with a managerial responsibility) gave you one line, must improve behaviour management. That's it. All you got. Nothing about the content or the delivery of the lesson. You continue to ruminate on this to try and pull any evidence that you can that proves you've got this, but by admitting you need help, feels like throwing yourself to the bottom of the pack without a hope of getting shortlisted for that position.

So here is how you will evidence this;

A student we'll call Frankie struggled most. He'd wander into class shouting "What are we doing today?" at the start of every lesson, usually late and would open his laptop and start playing games. You pull out the notes from the professional development workshop you attended last year, and look at the strategies they suggest. You develop an entrance routine and explicitly teach it to the students. Line up outside, walk in when all are ready, laptops closed until instructed. Once the routine was in place, Frankie started settling faster at the start of lessons, work at his desk, laptop closed, waiting rather than wandering. He still needed reminders, that didn't disappear overnight, but they came less often, and there was something to point to that wasn't just a teacher's judgement call: laptops closed until instructed, and he was doing it. The teacher from next door came in and said "How did you get Frankie to come in like that?"

That's a whole heap of the Australian professional teaching standards right there. In that one mini story. Standard 1, Knowing your students, Standard 3 & 4, planning for effective teaching and learning, and Standard 6, Engage in Professional Learning. And that's just the standards from one small routine, over one fortnight. Look at everything else you did this term and the list keeps going.

So what does this matter, I did something obvious right? Wrong, what you did was draw from professional knowledge to notice and respond to the needs of the students in your class to optimise the teaching and learning in your class. That's proficient teaching, that's evidencing your practice, that's telling your teaching story. So why does this matter? Well, it doesn't immediately solve the problem of gaining employment, but it opens the conversation, it sets you apart from all of the other teachers that are still spruiking their teaching philosophy, and not showing how they apply it. That gives you opening to discuss with the principal, how you have been developing throughout the year, and opens the conversation for any employment opportunities.

So what's next? Building your professional teaching story, it doesn't have to be all at once, start with one. What went well last term that you can talk about. Just one story that starts with the context and ends with the standards. Then build from there, you will have a jump when those job offers come out.

If you want a structured way to turn moments like this into a portfolio-ready teaching story, The Portfolio Builder walks you through it step by step, from context to standards, no blank page required.

And if what you need isn't a tool but a person, someone non-evaluative to help you build the evidence you already have, Strong Start Mentoring is built for exactly that.

Sunlight streams through blinds onto wooden desks.
Sunlight streams through blinds onto wooden desks.